Presenter: Simone Reinders, PhD
Presenter Biography: Dr A.A.T. Simone Reinders is a leading neuroscientist and international expert in the neurobiology of trauma-related dissociation and the brain imaging correlates of dissociative identity disorder disorder (DID). Simone studied Applied Physics and Artificial Intelligence and obtained her doctorate in Medical Sciences with the highest Dutch distinction Cum Laude at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. She received the most prestigious grant for young investigators, only awarded to the top 5% most promising researchers in the Netherlands, which allowed her to successfully lead a multi-centre neuroimaging project. Simone’s pioneering research showed identity-state-dependent blood-flow patters in the brain of individuals with DID. Follow-up research showed that these patterns cannot be simulated and that DID and PTSD share trauma-related neurobiomarkers. This significantly advanced understanding of brain function and structural brain abnormalities in DID. Simone has an H-index of 23 and is currently working as a Senior Research associate at the IoPPN of King’s College London, UK. Her most recent work addresses DID-dismissive perspectives using brain imaging[1] and a review of 205 studies identified biomarkers of pathological dissociation in a transdiagnostic manner[2]. Simone is Chair of the ENIGMA-Dissociation Working Group and Lead Trustee for the Clinic of Dissociative Studies' Academic Programme. Her work has been honoured with multiple awards from the ISSTD, including a Morton Prince Award for Scientific Achievement in 2017. 

Presenter: Lora Dimitrova, MSC, AKC
Presenter Biography: Lora Dimitrova is a PhD student affiliated with both King’s College London (UK) and the VU University Amsterdam (NL). For her thesis she is interested in the aetiology of dissociative identity disorder and in the neurofunctional and neurostructural biomarkers of pathological dissociation and traumatization. Lora completed her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Kingston University with a distinction. She completed her master’s in Mental Health Studies at King’s College London under the supervision of Dr A A T S Reinders and received a distinction as well. As part of her PhD Lora has published her first paper “Sleep, trauma, fantasy and cognition in dissociative identity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and healthy controls: a replication and extension study” in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (2020). She is currently also working as a research assistant at Tavistock Relationships.